1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an injection molding machine comprising an injecting unit and a clamping unit, which are supported on a machine pedestal which has an approximately rectangular vertical projection, The machine also comprises an injection mold for consecutively ejecting usable moldings, rejects and sprues, sorting means, which are disposed under the injection mold and comprise a swivel plate, which is pivotally movable by means of a motor-driven swivel drive to two mutually oppositely inclined positions, in which the usable moldings, on the one hand, and the rejects and sprues, on the other hand, slip down on the swivel plate in mutually opposite directions, There are further provided receiving means, which extend under the delivery end of said swivel plate when it is in position for a delivery of usable moldings, and comprising a disintegrator, which includes a drive motor, a transmission, a cutting mechanism having a drive shaft, and a container for disintegrated material, wherein the delivery end of said plate is disposed over said disintegrator when said plate is in its position for a delivery of sprues.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known injection molding machine of the above outlined kind is disclosed in Published German Application 3637612 and in the corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 116 218 and comprises a belt conveyor and a disintegrator, which consist of separate units and can be removed from the injection molding machine. But the functional elements of the sorting means are individually and permanently integrated in the machine pedestal because there is only a confined space between the injection mold and the disintegrator particularly in small injection molding machines. The sprues must be horizontally transported from the sorting means before they can be received by the cutting mechanism. It is also known from Published German Application 3126520 that the consecutively ejected moldings, on the one hand, and sprues and rejects, on the other hand, can be directed to different collecting containers by means of a sorting flap, which is actuated by drive means, which are permanently installed in the injection molding machine. In that case the sorting flap has a guiding function only in one guiding position and the sorting means and the collecting containers occupy the entire space below the injection mold.
In another known injection molding machine (U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,675) the sorting means also occupy the entire space in the machine frame under the injection mold. The guide flap causes, the moldings, on the one hand, and the sprues, on the other hand, to move on sloping surfaces directly out of the machine pedestal.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,008 to provide a belt conveyor unit, which comprises a belt conveyor, a frame and drive means and which is removably mounted in the machine pedestal and is so arranged that the moldings are conveyed by said belt conveyor out of the machine pedestal at one end thereof on a path which is parallel to the longitudinal vertical plane of symmetry of the injection molding machine. But a separation of rejects from the usable moldings is not contemplated and is not possible.
In a relatively large injection molding machine of a comparable kind the rejects and the usable moldings fall out of the mold in spaced apart regions (U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,027, column 1, lines 18 to 29 and column 2, lines 32 to 38). The rejects fall into a disintegrator, which can be moved out of the machine pedestal.